A former World War Two radar station near Worth Matravers in Dorset, which played a major role in the UK’s pioneering radar programme is set to go under the hammer at auction.
Bidders will have the chance to buy a unique piece of wartime history, just over a mile from Chapman’s Pool and the Jurassic Coast.
The David Donald Field Studies Base has most recently been a rural retreat for young carers
Guide price of £280,000
The former RAF radar base sited off Renscombe Road will be sold at public auction by Symonds and Sampson on Thursday 19th March 2026, with a guide price of £280,000.
Now known as the R And R Centre, the historic property has been converted into a rural retreat and hostel which can sleep up to 24 people, with permission for a further 16 camping pitches on the grounds.
It has most recently been used as an outdoor centre, run by the Dorset charity MyTime Young Carers based in Broadstone.
Over the years, it has provided respite breaks for young carers across the UK, but has been largely unused for the last two summers.
The base is now in need of repair and renovation
Dormitories for 24 people
MyTime Young Carers drew up policies in November 2022 to envisage how the centre could be turned into a beacon for carbon neutral lifestyle holidays run wholly on green power, but its plans were unable to come to fruition.
Now the building, which offers dormitory accommodation for 24 people, communal living space and outdoor facilities, is in need of serious investment before it can welcome any more visitors.
In spite of its impressive history – it is really the last remaining evidence of the part Worth Matravers played in developing the radar system which helped the UK win World War Two – it is not listed on Historic England’s national heritage list.
Dormitories provide sleeping space for 24 people in bunk beds
“Perfect for pitching tents”
Jan Merriott, of Symonds and Sampson estate agents, said:
“It is an excellent investment opportunity and an ideal place to enjoy a remote getaway with beautiful nearby walks in the middle of stunning scenery and surrounded by farmland.
“At the moment it has been converted into a 24 bed hostel with provision for 16 pitched tents, and has a full kitchen facility, lounge and dining area, and three bathrooms.
“The site is just over an acre, reached by a gravel driveway, and the grounds include a basketball court, parking spaces, a store room and generous amounts of grass which is perfect for pitching tents.
“It sits in a site of special scientific interest which is rich in archaeological, geological and fossil formations, with an interesting history.
“It’s an ideal place for groups to enjoy a relaxing break with great walking opportunities.
“Worth Matravers and the renowned Square and Compass pub are just a few minutes walk away, the South West Coast Path and the Jurassic Coast are just a mile and half from here, and Durdle Door, RSPB Arne nature reserve, Durlston Country Park, and Brownsea Island are close at hand.”
There is also provision for 16 pitched tents in its acre of land
Nerve centre for radar development
Potential buyers are being advised to consult a solicitor, as there appears to be no automatic right of access over the fields through which the access track cuts, but the centre has already been suggested as a perfect base for a wildlife sanctuary and rescue centre.
The property dates back to 1940 when it was hurriedly built in concrete, with a flat roof, to support the growing role of Purbeck as a centre for the development of a new technology which had the potential to turn the tide of World War Two.
From May 1940 to May 1942, Worth Matravers served as the nerve centre for radar development in the United Kingdom.
During those two years, leading scientists gathered on the Purbeck cliffs to test revolutionary new radar technologies that would play a vital role in the defence of Britain during World War Two.
A large communal lounge and dining room gives plenty of space for visitors
2,000 staff working at Worth
Radar research in Britain had begun earlier at Orfordness, Suffolk, in 1935, but scientists were evacuated to Dundee for their safety when war broke out in 1939.
By May 1940, the research teams had relocated again, this time to Worth Matravers, which was selected because its flat clifftop terrain made it ideal for radar experiments, and it also lay further from German occupied territory than many other coastal sites.
At first, around 200 people arrived to work at the site, but within two years the workforce had expanded tenfold to around 2,000 scientists, engineers and support staff, and their work transformed radar technology.
Their research on radar also expanded to Langton Matravers and Swanage.
Scientists in Purbeck developed new systems capable of detecting aircraft at greater distances and helped pioneer radar navigation for aircraft.
Perhaps most significantly, the first radar system featuring a rotating aerial and a display resembling a map, the format familiar from modern radar screens, was first developed and tested at Worth Matravers.
A plaque and wartime paper inside the centre pays tribute to its former role as a radar station
Daring raid on a German base
Germany had also been developing radar, and in February 1942 British paratroopers carried out a daring raid on a German base at Bruneval, capturing key components which allowed British scientists to study how advanced the German technology had become.
The raid had an unintended consequence – fearing the Germans might attempt a similar operation against Britain’s own radar research facilities, Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the Purbeck centre to move inland, to Malvern in Worcestershire.
By that point, the Worth Matravers station had already played a crucial role in advancing radar technology during a critical period of the war, and even though research teams moved away, the RAF continued operating radar equipment at Worth for many years after the war ended.
A towering 360-foot radar mast dominated the skyline above the village for decades, becoming a familiar Purbeck landmark before finally being dismantled in the early 1970s.
There’s a memorial to Worth Matravers’ radar heritage at St Aldhelm’s Head
Memorial at St Aldhelm’s Head
Today, little remains of the original wartime complex beyond foundations on the cliff top and the surviving buildings that now form the retreat centre.
However, efforts to preserve Purbeck’s radar heritage began in the early 1990s with the creation of the Purbeck Radar Museum Trust, and in 2001 a radar memorial was unveiled at St Aldhelm’s Head, overlooking the cliffs where the research once took place.
An exhibition exploring the history of radar in Purbeck is now at Swanage Museum and Heritage Centre, which reopens for the summer season in April 2026.
Richard Cottrell outside Langton Matravers Museum
“Very important story”
Radar expert Richard Cottrell, of Langton Matravers, said:
“It’s a very interesting and important story which is not well known. Microwave radar wasn’t just important in sinking boats, without it we would not have been able to even consider mounting D-Day.
“It could never have happened but for the actions of a bunch of scientists working in a damp, draughty stable at Leeson House in Langton Matravers and the team at Worth.
“They managed to make a microwave radar with high power which provided far more accurate identification of targets, meaning they could pick up the conning tower of a U-boat in a rough Atlantic sea at night from a bomber flying far overhead.
“The Germans had tried extensively to do this and had given up, saying it could never be done, but the team of top scientists working at Langton managed to invent this crazy thing.”
The site at Worth Matravers was chosen as a base for radar development because of its flat, clifftop position on the coast
“Needle in a haystack”
Richard added:
“Up until the point, radar systems became available to us, the UK was not doing well at all and at one stage we very nearly lost the war – in 1942 we lost over 1,000 ships which really frightened Churchill.
“But radar made all the difference – the Enigma team at Bletchley Park could give a grid square where the U-boats were, but that was 10 miles by 10 miles of rough Atlantic seas.
“After radar, bombers were able to pinpoint them using radar, where previously it had been like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
“Once the system started working, the numbers of U-boats destroyed rose dramatically and the number of Allied ships lost dropped dramatically, to the point that the German Admiral withdrew all of his U-boats from the north Atlantic for a while because he was losing too many of them.”
The property is up for public auction at Merley House, Wimborne, on Thursday 19th March 2026
Further information
- Purbeck Radar has a full history of radar development on its website
- Property details for the radar station
